


4. We are not allowed to rally and petition for no exams.

by Firefur (lyndsie_l)



Series: The Marauders Map for Pranks [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: The Marauders - Freeform, The Marauders Map for Pranks, no exams, petition, post from tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-07-10 08:38:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6975919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyndsie_l/pseuds/Firefur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James, Sirius, Peter, (and sometimes Remus) think they shouldn't have to take their exams. </p>
<p>They'll try anything to convince their professors the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	4. We are not allowed to rally and petition for no exams.

**First Year**

“Excuse me? Professor?”

“Yes Mr. Black?” Professor McGonagall asked, lifting her head up from the papers on her desk to give her undivided attention to her student.

“I was wondering if exams were going to be canceled this year?” he said with his voice rising slightly at the end, as though he weren’t quite sure if he were asking or telling.

Minerva raised her eyebrows.

“Oh?” she replied curiously, “And why would they be canceled this year?”

Sirius glanced behind him quickly, before shrugging unconcerned.

She looked behind him to find his three best friends, James, Remus, and Peter, standing at the door, waiting for him to finish.

The young boy explained, “I just figured that exams were kind of pointless, so there wasn’t really any need for them.”

Minerva hummed, “Well, whether you understand their purpose or not, I can assure you that they will be happening as planned on schedule.”

He shrugged again, shooting her a cocky smile, “Well, it didn’t hurt to ask, right?”

He turned and bounced out of the room, returning to his friends who were eagerly waiting for him to tell them her response.

She waited until her door was firmly shut before rolling her eyes.

 

**Second Year**

“What’s this?” Minerva asked, glancing at the basket the boys in front of her had placed on her desk.

Inside were several different types of chocolates and candies, as well as a couple of books on Transfiguration.

“We just thought that we’d do something nice for you -” James said brightly.

“- in hopes that you’d do something nice for us in return,” Sirius finished.

She raised an eyebrow, “And what would that be?”

The boys glanced at each other.

“Well,” Sirius spoke slowly, “exams are coming up soon …”

Minerva cut him off, “And I’m sure that you are working very hard to prepare for them. Something you ought to be doing right now, as you will all be required to take your exams on the days you are required to.”

The boys let out a little disappointed moan.

“Thank you for the gift,” she told them, motioning for them to leave her office, “I will see you all in class later today.”

James turned to Sirius and whispered, “I told you you couldn’t bribe her into canceling it.”

“Maybe we can ask her to give us full marks …” Sirius said, pausing as though he were going to turn around and ask.

“Not gonna work,” James replied, grabbing the other boy’s arm and dragging him out the door.

When the door closed behind them, Minerva opened the gift basket and popped a piece of chocolate in her mouth.

 

**Third Year**

_Misters James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew have all been excused from having to participate in their exams this year, due to their outstanding grades and their willingness to participate during class lectures. They will receive full marks on all of their exams and be free to spend the time doing whatever else they may wish._

_Headmaster Albus Dumbledore_

“And he just handed you this note, asking that you bring it to me?” Minerva asked the three boys who stood in front of her desk.

“Yes ma’am,” Sirius confirmed.

“He was very insistent,” James added.

She glanced in between the three before throwing the poorly forged note into the rubbish bin beneath her desk.

“10 points from Gryffindor,” she said, “for trying to forge the Headmaster’s signature. And you will be expected to show up to all of your exams, just as you have in past years.”

The boys groaned, realizing they were being dismissed.

Sirius hissed to the others as they walked out, “I told you we shouldn’t have added Pete’s name to the list.”

“Sorry guys,” Peter replied dejectedly, holding his round head down low, close to his chest.

“Nah, don’t worry about it, Pete,” James said, throwing his arm around the smaller boy in an effort to cheer him up, “she wasn’t likely to go for it anyway.”

They left the room, their heads held high.

 

**Fourth Year**

“NO MORE EXAMS! NO MORE EXAMS! NO MORE EXAMS!”

Minerva McGonagall rushed into the Great Hall with Albus Dumbledore on one side and Horace Slughorn on the other.

“What on earth is going on here?” she demanded to know, looking around the chaos in the room, searching for the source.

“It appears as though our students are holding a rally,” Albus replied calmly.

Minerva looked more closely at the signs the students were carrying, reading the messages the students had painted on.

Some read _No more exams_.

Others stated _Exams are Worthless_.

One off to the side had written, _Give Us Our FREEDOM_.

She sighed at the melodrama of her students, and wasn’t in the least bit surprised when two young fourteen year old boys with dark hair jumped up onto one of the tables in the middle of the room, casting a spell against their throats to project their voices.

“WHAT DO WE WANT?” Sirius Black yelled out to the crowd.

“FREEDOM!” The crowd shouted back simultaneously.

“WHEN DO WE WANT IT?” James Potter asked.

“NOW!” The crowd demanded.

The two boys turned to each other, wide smiles spread of their faces.

They motioned to Peter below who was holding up a sign with a chant and motioned for the crowd to follow along.

“1 – 2 – 3 – 4, WE DON’T WANT EXAMS NO MORE!  
5 – 6 – 7 – 8, END THEM NOW, IT’S NOT TOO LATE!”

Albus turned to Minerva, and although he wasn’t smiling, there was a twinkle in his eye that tipped her off that he was amused at the display before him.

“As the head of Mr. Potter and Mr. Black’s house, I will leave you to decide what actions you would like to be taken. The rest of the professors and I can bring order back to the remainder of the school.”

Minerva nodded once, indicating that she understood.

She took a deep breath before shouting out, “POTTER! BLACK! My office, _NOW_!”

 

**Fifth Year**

Minerva hesitantly approached the two young men sitting on a bench outside the school.

Their positions mimicked the other, both hunched forward, their elbows on their knees, and their heads in their hands.

“Mr. Potter? Mr. Black?”

The two boy immediately looked up, neither wearing the bright smiles they were usually sporting.

“Are you two feeling alright?” she asked, wondering what could possibly have brought these two vibrant young men down.

“No,” James sighed, returning to place his head in his hands.

“We’re depressed,” Sirius added needlessly, following James’ lead.

Minerva wasn’t sure if she should be more amused or concerned.

“And why would that be?” she asked, curious to know the answer.

“Well, we had this great idea for what we could do to try and get out of O.W.L.s this year,” James spoke.

“But stupid Perfect Prefects Evans and Lupin ruined our plans,” Sirius finished bitterly.

“They’re not stupid,” James correctly his friend, “They just want to do well and didn’t want us distracting them or the other students.”

Sirius mumbled a couple of things under his breath that Minerva couldn’t quite hear.

Assuming his words were likely rude and inappropriate, she chose not to ask him to repeat.

“I see,” she said, taking a brief moment to feel pride in her decision to appoint Remus Lupin and Lily Evans as prefects for the Gryffindor House that year. She had hoped that Lupin would be a good influence on his friends, and it appeared that her intentions had been met.

“Well, I suppose there’s always next year,” she said, turning with a swoosh of her robes and heading back to the school.

“Yeah … next year …” James said, his voice raising in excitement.

“If we start planning now, we can make sure that everything will go perfect next year!” Sirius exclaimed.

Minerva was glad her back was to the boys so they couldn’t see her smile.

 

**Sixth Year**

“Why aren’t you students in class?” Minerva asked the dozens of students who stayed in the Great Hall after breakfast ended.

She was about to leave herself, to get ready for her first class of the day, when she realized there were far too many students left behind, many of whom she knew were supposed to be in class already.

She really shouldn’t have been surprised when Sirius and James worked their way through the crowd to stand at the front.

“We’re not going to class today,” James told her, his arms folded tightly across his chest.

“And why not?” she asked sternly.

“As you know, we’ve asked for exams to be canceled each and every year. And each and every year, our simple request has been ignore,” James replied.

Minerva pursed her lips together, holding in a sigh.

Sirius continued, “We have decided that we will not allow our request to be denied any further. Starting this moment, on this day, we are officially going on STRIKE!”

He yelled out the last word, turning back to the large group of students behind him who cheered in response.

“Oh really?” Minerva asked flatly, glancing at the time, knowing she didn’t have any to spare for another one of Potter and Black’s stunts.

“If you do not attend classes, you will each receive detention,” she informed them, watching as some of the younger students squirmed uncomfortably.

“We don’t care,” Sirius answered for the group, “We believe in our cause, and we will not be convinced to desert our desires.”

“And every student participating will lose 5 points each,” she added, internally pleased when the students behind the two ring leaders started whispering their worries to one another.

“Stay strong!” Sirius motivated the crowd behind him, “Our efforts will be rewarded greatly!”

“And of course,” Minerva spoke with an unconcerned shrug of her shoulders, “Any student participating in a strike will be unable to play in any upcoming Quidditch Match this year.”

There was a beat of silence before Sirius cursed under his breath.

“Welp,” James said, clapping his best friend on the back and turning to wave at the students behind him, “That was fun. Good strike guys. See you all next year.”

“Traitor!” Sirius called out after his friend as he left to rush to his first class, groaning in disappointment when the remaining of the students quickly dispersed as well.

Minerva joined them, leaving the room to attend her first class as well.

 

**Seventh Year**

Professor McGonagall look at the list of names unimpressed.

“As you can see,” James explained, “We have gathered signatures from over 1,000 people all petitioning for exams to be canceled for the year.”

“We don’t even have 1,000 students here at the school, Mr. Potter,” the stern woman replied.

“The kind residents who live in Hogsmeade were very sympathetic to our cause,” he answered.

She hummed, scanning over the scroll idly as she glanced at the names included on the list.

Her eyes narrowed in on a particular name about a third of the way down.

“Lily?” she asked surprised, turning to the red-headed Head Girl standing beside the Head Boy, her boyfriend James Potter.

Out of everyone in the school, Minerva would have never guessed that the stubborn and highly-motivated Lily Evans would be signing a petition to get out of exams.

Lily shrugged sheepishly, “I’m really nervous about my Transfiguration N.E.W.T.s,” she admitted.

Minerva set down the scroll and looked in between the two Heads.

“I will be sure to pass this list along to the Headmaster for his consideration,” she said, knowing that Albus would certainly be amused.

“In the meantime,” she looked in between the two, “I would highly suggest you continue studying for your exams which are rapidly approaching.”

“Of course, Professor, thank you for your time,” Lily said, grabbing James’ arm and pulling him towards the door as he saluted the Professor and called out, “Thank you, ma’am. We look forward to hearing the school’s decision.”

As soon as the door opened, she heard Sirius Black’s voice seep through as he asked, “What did she say? Was she impressed? Did it work? Are exams canceled?”

She shook her head as the door closed behind the students, shutting the remainder of the sound out.

It appeared that even after seven years, they still hadn’t learned.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out more stories and pranks like the at [The Marauders Map for Pranks](http://www.themaraudersmapforpranks.tumblr.com).


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